Natural

January 4, Bangladesh. Government officials report that 40 deaths in poor areas during a cold snap bring the death toll for the week to at least 56.

January 15, U.S. An ice storm shuts down large parts of Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, Iowa, and New York and is responsible for the deaths of at least 39 people, including an accident in Elk City, Okla., in which 12 migrant workers in a van were killed.

January 17, Australia. Steve Bracks, the premier of the state of Victoria, warns that the state is experiencing its worst fire conditions ever; thus far close to 1 million ha (2.5 million ac) have been burned.

January 18, Europe. A ferocious storm, with winds in excess of 61 km/hr (100 mph), sweeps through the British Isles and northern Europe; there are at least 47 storm-related deaths.

January 22, Central Peru. Flooding and mud slides after days of heavy rainfall leave at least 16 people dead and thousands homeless.

January 25, Angola. The minister of the interior reports that a weeklong storm in the country has resulted in at least 71 deaths, 65 of them in Luanda; thousands have been rendered homeless.

February 2, Central Florida. Thunderstorms and tornadoes leave at least 19 people dead and hundreds of homes destroyed.

February 4, Indonesia. Flooding from heavy rain in the southern hills traps hundreds of people in Jakarta, leaving at least 44 people dead as some 340,000 are forced to flee the floodwaters that inundate 40–70% of the city.

February 13, Mozambique. Relief officials report that unusually catastrophic flooding of the Zambezi River has forced more than 68,000 people to evacuate and has left at least 20 people dead.

February 25, Bolivia. It is reported that the worst flooding in 25 years has left at least 35 people dead and thousands of homes as well as crops and roads destroyed.

March 1, U.S. A large storm system spawns tornadoes that leave at least 20 people in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida dead, among them 8 students at a high school in Enterprise, Ala., who are killed when the roof collapses.

March 6, Indonesia. Two earthquakes, the first of magnitude 6.3 and the second, two hours later, of magnitude 6.1, occur near Solok, on Sumatra; at least 52 people perish.

March 20, Pakistani-administered Kashmir. Pakistani officials report that landslides caused by heavy rains have killed at least 16 people; many survivors of the earthquake of October 2005 live in temporary shelters in the region.

April 2, Solomon Islands. An earthquake of magnitude 8.1 occurs well below the seafloor, triggering a tsunami that damages property in the towns of Gizo and Munda and inundates several villages; at least 52 people lose their lives.

May 4, Greensburg, Kan. The town is demolished by an exceptionally large tornado; 10 people die, and at least 63 are injured.

May 11, Uttar Pradesh, India. A storm causes the collapse of buildings in the town of Sultanpur, crushing 24 people, while 3 are killed by lightning in Pratapgarh.

June 6, Oman. Cyclone Gonu passes down the coast, forcing evacuations and shutting down oil installations; at least 32 people are killed, and some 30 are missing.

June 10, Southern China. Officials in China report that days of torrential rain produced flooding in which at least 66 people died.

June 11, Bangladesh. Mud slides caused by heavy rains leave some 119 people dead in Chittagong; elsewhere in the area rain and lightning kill about 16 people.

June 24, Karachi, Pak. A provincial health minister reports that unusually strong monsoon storms have caused the deaths of 228 people as well as flooding and extensive power failures.

June 25, India. On the third day of monsoon rains, at least 147 people have lost their lives: some 41 in Andhra Pradesh, 52 in Kerala, 39 in Karnataka, and 15 in Maharashtra.

June 26, Europe. It is reported that a heat wave with temperatures as high as 46 °C (115 °F) has caused the deaths of 23 people in Romania, 7 people in Serbia, and 5 people in Greece; numerous wildfires in Greece and Italy are also blamed on the heat; later a death toll of 42 in Italy and the Balkans is reported.

July 8, India. Government officials say the death toll from monsoon rains throughout the country has reached 660; hardest hit has been Maharashtra state.

July 20, Northwestern Pakistan. Landslides resulting from heavy rains leave more than 80 people dead in Dirbala district.

July 23, Indonesia. Officials say flash floods and landslides that have inundated villages have left at least 30 people dead.

July 25, Romania. Authorities report that an unremitting heat wave in southeastern Europe has killed 33 people in the country.

July 30, China. The Xinhua news agency reports that unusually bad flooding from rain over the past few weeks has left some 650 people dead, including 17 in the past two days.

July 30, South Africa. The government reports that wildfires in the grasslands have killed at least 19 people, 5 of them firefighters.

August 3, Northern India and Bangladesh. The death toll from flooding in monsoon rains in the past few days rises to 186.

August 8, India. Flooding in Gujarat state reaches such a state that army personnel and helicopters are pressed into service to rescue and relocate people; so far this season some 290 people have died in flooding in the state.

August 15, Pisco, Peru. The city is destroyed by an offshore earthquake of magnitude 8.0 that leaves at least 540 people dead and some 85,000 in need of shelter.

August 16, North Korea. After receiving permission from North Korea to examine flood-stricken regions after torrential rains, UN officials report 83 people dead and 60 missing as well as the destruction of 58,000 homes and 90,000 ha (222,400 ac) of farmland.

August 16, Japan. The temperature in the cities of Tajimi and Kumagaya reaches 40.9 °C (105.6 °F), the highest temperature ever recorded in Japan; at least 13 people have died because of the heat wave.

August 17, Nepal. The Nepal Red Cross Society reports that recent flooding and landslides in several districts have left at least 143 people dead and 19,353 families displaced.

August 20, U.S. Authorities report that two violent storm systems, one in the upper Mississippi River states and one in Texas, have left at least 20 people dead.

August 23, Mexico. The remnants of Hurricane Dean cause 8 deaths, bringing the death toll from the storm in the Caribbean and Mexico to 25.

August 24, Greece. With high winds and high temperatures fueling them, dozens of wildfires have killed at least 15 people; by the time firefighters gain control over the flames on August 29, the death toll has risen to at least 64.

August 28, China. The minister of water resources reports that in spite of unusual extremes of weather in the country, the death toll (1,138) this year from floods is lower than last year’s by nearly half because of better handling of disasters.

September 4, Nicaragua. Hurricane Felix makes landfall near Puerto Cabezas as a category 5 storm; more than 100 people are killed, and a further 150 are missing, with incalculable damage to buildings and farmland in both Nicaragua and Honduras.

September 6, Southern California. A week of unusually high temperatures comes to an end; some 20 people are believed to have perished in the heat wave.

September 26, Southern Asia. Health officials say that since July more than 2,000 people have died in northeastern and eastern India and Bangladesh as a result of flooding.

October 9, Africa. Agence France-Presse reports that over the past two months, flooding in much of the continent from unusually heavy summer rains has left at least 300 people dead.

November 1, Caribbean. After devastating the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Tropical Storm Noel brings torrential rains and flooding to The Bahamas and Cuba; the overall death toll from the storm reaches 124.

November 3, Mexico. After five days of record rainfall, much of the state of Tabasco suffers flooding, with some 80% of the city of Villahermosa under as much as 2.13 m (7 ft) of water; tens of thousands of residents have been displaced by the flooding.

November 6, Vietnam. Officials report that flooding in the past week in the central region has left at least 67 people dead.

November 15, Bangladesh. Cyclone Sidr lays waste to much of the southwestern coastal area of Bangladesh; some 5,000 people perish.

November 21, China. A landslide in the region of the Three Gorges Dam in China sweeps away a passenger bus, killing some 30 people; a few additional people are also killed by the landslide.

December 11, Dominican Republic. Tropical Storm Olga makes landfall, causing flooding and leaving at least 25 people dead, most killed by a release of water from a dam on the Yaque River that officials feared would otherwise collapse.

December 11, U.S. Freezing rain from a storm that began as an ice storm in Oklahoma and Kansas hits Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois; a total of 20 deaths, most in Oklahoma and Kansas, are attributed to the weather conditions.

December 24, U.S. State officials report that a storm involving freezing rain, snow, and high winds has over the past two days left many holiday travelers stranded throughout the Midwest; at least 19 people died in weather-related traffic accidents in Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

December 26, Indonesia. Landslides after heavy rains on the island of Java bury 80 or more people, at least 61 of them attending a dinner party in the Karanganyar district.

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